British Educational Research Journal最新文献

Changes to the Welsh curriculum are becoming apparent. The Williams Report culminated in recommendations for schools and initial teacher education (ITE) on the inclusion and teaching of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic histories in Wales. The subsequent Welsh Government ITE action plan was designed to ensure the pro-active recruitment of trainee teachers from Black and racially minoritised backgrounds in Wales. As a result of this legislation, a team of ITE lecturers in a school of education in a Welsh university formed a research triad and larger research collective, the idea being that we needed to decolonise our own pedagogy and curriculum delivery and re-imagine ITE within an anti-racist paradigm. It was key to reflect on our ITE provision, ensuring that our curriculum delivery reflected the ambition of the new Curriculum for Wales,* which encourages practitioners to think differently on what they teach, how they teach and what they want young people to learn. Using a patchwork methodology—which included ‘deep thinking and deep listening’—we examined our current ITE delivery and work that has been done thus far and looked at the gains and areas for development. It became clear that staff within our ‘ITE research collective’ were becoming more knowledgeable and confident in working within a racial dynamic, and consequently felt more able to impart knowledge when engaging with other ITE colleagues and students. This paper charts our ongoing journey and makes recommendations gained from our experiences.

This study contributes to the research on ethnic educational inequality, by deepening the current understanding of education initiatives organised by the ethnic-cultural minoritised communities most affected by these inequalities. A univariate analysis was performed on data from an original survey conducted in Flanders, in which 816 teachers and 3037 pupils from 60 primary schools were asked about, among other things, their experience with and their perceptions of these educational initiatives. The results of this analysis show that these community-based education initiatives are widely attended by ethnic minority youth, but also that teachers in mainstream schools are rarely informed or even aware of the existence of these initiatives, or the important role they play in their pupils' lives. The broader social and scientific implications are discussed in this paper, as little to no similar larger-scale research exists that maps the relationship between these community-based education initiatives and mainstream educational institutions.

Research has highlighted the advantages of specific practices for enhancing student learning. However, the adoption of these practices varies among teachers. This disparity raises fundamental questions: Why do certain teachers use these practices while others do not? Does the use of these practices depend on the career stage of the teachers? This paper analyses the practices adopted by teachers at different career stages. We used a mixed-methods approach, combining a questionnaire (n = 300) and three focus group discussions (n = 13). The results revealed significant variability in the use of pedagogical practices among novice, experienced and senior teachers. Experienced and senior teachers demonstrate a deeper understanding of adapting teaching methods to student needs, establishing clear objectives and providing feedback. However, certain practices, such as metacognition, remain underused at all career stages. The study highlights the need for professional development concerning these practices, while emphasising the challenge of their implementation.

The shortage of teachers from Black, Asian and minoritised groups is well documented. Over the past decade, a body of research has confirmed that discrimination and inequality is a factor in the recruitment of teachers from Black, Asian and minoritised groups in England. Drawing on findings from the 2017 Runnymede Trust Report, which highlighted Bristol's lack of racial diversity within the teaching community, this paper explores the experiences of a group of pre-service teachers on university teacher education routes who are minoritised within the general teaching population. The identified lack of diversity in the teacher workforce extends beyond race to other aspects of identity and representation in the classroom and is mirrored in teacher education. A series of focus group interviews were conducted across a 9-month period. Results are presented as vignettes to capture the voice of minoritised participants. The findings have implications for the recruitment and retention of a diverse teacher workforce, as well as highlighting the need to ensure a sense of belonging for all pre-service teachers entering the teaching community. This paper proposes a model relating to the analysis of critical incidents, which aims to inform future research into how pre-service teachers respond to critical incidents regarding their identity. This model seeks to clarify tensions in the diverse lived experiences of pre-service teachers and helps to explore the importance of context.

There are few longitudinal studies of adolescent students’ choice to persist in post-compulsory education. Hence, the present study introduces a longitudinal model that describes the interplay between sociological and psychological explanations of adolescents’ choice to persist in post-compulsory education in the UK. Data on parental education, early childhood self-regulation (age 5), sustained school engagement (ages 7, 11, 14) and persistence in education after the end of compulsory schooling (age 17) were utilised. The sample comprised 8333 (51.1% females, 89.5% white) children from the Millennium Cohort Study. Statistical analyses included state–trait modelling, longitudinal mediation and multigroup moderation. A trait–state–occasion model was run to disentangle the trait from state variance in school engagement. Afterwards, two hypotheses were formulated, namely the ‘instilment’ and the ‘differential’. The ‘instilment’ hypothesis involved a longitudinal predictive model, whereby parental education predicted early childhood self-regulation which, in turn, predicted sustained school engagement which predicted students’ choice to persist. The ‘differential’ hypothesis examined whether higher vs. lower parental education changed the nature of the predictive relations between self-regulation, sustained school engagement and persistence. The results were in favour of an ‘instilment’ hypothesis, whereby higher parental education was translated to higher levels of early self-regulation which predicted higher sustained engagement, which, in turn, predicted greater probability of persisting in post-compulsory education. The findings suggest a pathway from early childhood experiences to educational outcomes via the development of a trait of engaging with school.

China's grand strategies (i.e., the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area) have expedited the popularity of full-time degree-bearing study in mainland China. Associated with the exponential growth of inward student populations are proliferating concerns about the capacity of non-majority/non-local students to ‘integrate’ and belong in their host universities/colleges. The extant literature on university/college belonging often positions non-majority/non-local students as being academically and culturally deficient and subsequently being otherised in the host university community. Yet, their agency in managing the prevailing image and ‘otherisation’, and constructing their own sense of belonging to university, has received scant attention. This qualitative study is a substantive and theoretical contribution to the literature on university belonging, which has been preoccupied with non-majority/non-local students in the classic South–North international student mobility. This study deployed the concepts of politics of belonging and place-belongingness and canvassed the senses of belonging to university among inbound Hong Kong students in mainland higher education, which has witnessed a growing Hong Kong student population in recent years. The collected interview data indicated that these border-crossing Hong Kong students found themselves categorised as ‘underachievers’ with ‘poor mathematics’ yet ‘proficient in English’ in the mainland campus setting, where they did not feel they fully belonged. Responding to the paradoxical identity/belonging politics, they performed three forms of place-belongingness by dismantling, accommodating or counter-stereotyping the ascribed classifications in order to legitimate their own participation in the mainland Chinese university.

History education that deals with the controversial and sensitive past is a vehicle for peacemaking in conflict-affected societies. However, its success is dependent on teachers taking risks to challenge entrenched ‘us versus them’ views of history. How does a student teacher in Northern Ireland grapple with risk-taking when learning to teach controversial history? What tensions are involved in bringing a different perspective into the classroom that challenges identity-based understandings and emotions? This paper analyses interview data from a study on the preparation of preservice teachers for teaching controversial issues. It uses dialogical self theory to examine competing voices that animate a student teacher's practice and reveal how her interpretation of pedagogical lessons from university coursework and professional norms bump up against her identity, family loyalty and related emotions. Her conflict brings into relief tensions of learning to teach controversial history in divided societies.

Young people growing up in England from a poorer background are less likely to progress into higher education compared to their better off counterparts. This is especially true with respect to more selective universities. This study used government administrative data to gauge the effectiveness of the ‘Realising Opportunities’ programme, which provides a package of support to prospective university applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds to facilitate their progression to more selective universities. Data was gathered concerning 769 16 to 18-year-old students who took part in the programme—which is delivered by a consortium of selective universities—between 2015 and 2017. This data revealed participants' personal characteristics (e.g., gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status), school attainment and eventual university destination (or lack thereof). Additionally, national administrative data was sourced from the Department for Education's National Pupil Database and the Higher Education Statistics Agency for the entire cohort of state school pupils in England who turned 16 in the 2014–2015 academic year. This national data was used to generate a statistical model that could predict the likelihood of a young person in England progressing to a selective university based on their school attainment and other personal characteristics. Data concerning the programme participants was fed through the model and it was observed that the number of participants who had in fact progressed to selective universities greatly exceeded that predicted. Participation in the Realising Opportunities programme therefore appeared to be positively associated with an increased likelihood of progression to a selective university.

Linguistics is conspicuously absent from language teaching in UK schools. A-level cultural topics cover a range of themes such as cyber-society, cultural heritage and multiculturalism, but the approach taken to these topics is not informed by linguistics. In previous work, we have argued that this is an unfortunate omission not only because linguistics is appealing to many language students and perceived by them to be useful, but also because the existing cultural topics could be significantly enriched by the inclusion of the critical/analytical study of language itself. In this paper, we provide concrete examples of how linguistics can be integrated into the existing A-level curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) in England and Wales. Reporting on a project in which teachers trialled linguistics materials co-created by us (a group of academics) and experienced languages teachers, we present evidence that linguistics materials are perceived to be both highly novel and nonetheless compatible with the existing A-level curriculum. Data from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with participating teachers also show that: (i) these new materials can be taught with little or no prior experience of linguistics; and (ii) adding linguistics materials to the curriculum leads to significant impacts on teacher and pupil attitudes towards language(s). Despite some challenges, which we also discuss, the results highlight again the great potential of linguistics as a component of language teaching and the contribution that it can make to the enrichment of the discipline.

Early childhood education is an institutional introduction of children to the world, making it essential for policymakers, educators and society to find the best way to provide such an introduction. Following a new policy in Saudi Arabia, daycare centres have been renamed ‘hospitality centres’, bringing a set of duties and rights rooted deep in the ethics of hospitality. However, empirical research on nursery provision is generally lacking in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study examined the experiences of children and caregivers in two children's hospitality centres in the capital city of Riyadh. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and field observations, the authors observed and listened to the experiences of educators and children in two of the new hospitality centres. Open and focused coding of the interviews and structured observations helped to identify the way the ethics of hospitality manifested itself in the daily experiences of the caregivers/hosts and the children/guests. The results demonstrated the complexity of the situations in which the ethics of hospitality encountered reality.